Beppe Grillo, the Italian comedian who was excommunicated from Italian TV many years ago after he made a few quips about the behaviour of certain politicians, and who runs one of the most popular blogs in the world, organised ‘Vaffa’ day. ‘Vaffa’ if you did not know, is short for ‘vaffanculo’, which means something like ‘fuck off’, and Mr Grillo wanted to tell the politicians in Italy where to go. In Mr Grillo’s (and many others) eyes Italy has become ‘Shitaly’.
The ‘Vaffa’ event seems to have had some success and the media here has been reverberating with stories of Mr Grillo’s performance down in Bologna, and the mud he has stirred up. There was even a follow up to Sunday’s goings on today in the evening news. Apparently, Di Pietro, one of the few decent politicos in the Living Museum managed to wind up Fausto Bertinotti, a supposed communist (he has a pretty good income for a commy – so is obviously one of those commies who is more equal than the others – ‘heart on the left, wallet on the right’ (wonderful definition of an Italian commy!), to quote Mr Grillo) , and speaker in the current Italian parliament. The reason for Bertinotti’s indignation? Di Pietro stated that politicians who have been convicted by the courts should lose the right be ‘promoted’ to senators in and this take a seat in Italy’s upper house of parliament. Seems fair enough to me, after all politicos are not really renown for their honesty, and court convictions would seem to indicate that, at least in some cases, certain politicians are not honest enough to command the respect, and be able to represent the interests, of a nation. Bertinotti sort of evaded this issue, saying that it was the first time he had ‘officially’ heard of it. Yeah, yeah. This kind of leads one to the conclusion that Bertinotti is possible acting in collusion with some of his not so honourable colleagues. He certainly is one of the ‘old school’ politicos, so, if this is the case, it would not be much of a surprise.
Good old Mr Grillo – he has stirred up a hornets nest and much buzzing is now taking place. Parliamentary reform is, once again, being mooted. I think even the politicos were surprised by the support for Mr Grillo’s initiative. Let us hope that something tangible comes from it. After all, I know of no other country in Europe where the politicians are held in such a bad light, especially by the young. Many of the current faces and names in Italian politics are a bit like a bad smell that just refuses to dissipate. Result? Italy goes backwards, round in circles, up and down, but rarely forwards. And, to put some icing on the now stale (rotting!!??) cake, the current bunch hanging around in parliament is on about yet more tax rises, which seems to be the only thing they are capable of implementing. Is someone’s Swiss bank account falling below the 100 million Euros mark possibly? Nah, perish the thought. After dodgy Craxi’s ‘skimming’ of public monies, no one would be daft enough to do the same thing again, now would they? Unless, that is, they all worked together? No, no way that this could be the case. Only it may explain why Bertinotti is trying on a few delaying tactics . Maybe, possibly, he wants to give a few ‘friends’ a little more time to dunk a few incriminating things in the wine vats. No. Daft thought.
Stop reading, start speaking
Stop translating in your head and start speaking Italian for real with the only audio course that prompt you to speak.
Whatever happens, and do not hold your breath. When changes happens here it slowly oozes though the system, so nothing will really happen for the next 600 years or so, in which time the current Italian PM will most probably still go by the name of Prodi/Berlusconi. Do not believe me? Hop in your time machines and check it out!
It really is, in my opinion, quite something when a comedian becomes just about the only person proposing realistic changes in a country which is a so-called democratic republic. I mean, is this Grillo fellow trying to be funny or something?
Edited 24.04- coz I did not like the first draft.
